Nightmare Ghost
by nightmarekitt
Summary: Five years after Phantom Planet, Vlad is in Walker's prison, where he meets a mysterious young woman named Terra, and Danny is enslaved by his Ultimate Enemy. Can Vlad save Danny and can he finally tell the young ghost his darkest secret? DISCONTINUED


As he was thrown across the filthy prison cell, he didn't make a sound. He also didn't scream when he landed oddly on his side, twisting his right arm beneath his weight, and awkwardly dislocating his shoulder. The physical pain was agony, however, the emotional torrents he had been dealing with for the past five years were multitudes worse. In comparison, a dislocated shoulder was as easy to ignore as a mosquito bite.

"Trust me, you're better off in here than out there," Walker said, a striking figure in a white suit, as he slammed shut the iron-barred door. "Needless to say, you did us all a disservice five years ago, when you betrayed our world for your own selfish desires. Attempting to destroy the ghost zone," the warden drew a book out of thin air and pointed to a place in the content, as he finished, "is against the rules." He snapped the book shut and with a laugh, disappeared down the dark hallway leading away from Vlad's place of confinement.

The half ghost sat up, sighed, and absently snapped his shoulder back into place without even a wince. Proceeding those actions, he pulled himself into a ball, pressing his face into his knees, and wept. Because of this, he didn't at first notice that someone else resided in the cell with him. She approached him cautiously, quietly, and watched him with curious eyes.

"It's okay, sir. You don't have to cry. Mr. Walker's Prison isn't such a bad place. It's much safer than the human world."

Vlad heard her words, processed them, and put minimal effort into raising his head and blinking slowly at this girl. She looked like a young teenager, but there was an intelligence in her eyes that suggested she was much older. Her hair was black, long, and straight. Her nose was upturned, her face round and freckled. Her eyes were large and blue, framed by square glasses. Her skin was pale, and she wore a band t-shirt, blue jeans, and green converse.

"You're not a ghost," Vlad stated, then tucked his face back against his legs. "Leave me alone."

"That would be impolite. You can't just ignore a revered, legendary ghost who sits before you, bawling his eyes out like a child who didn't get any Christmas presents."

Vlad sighed, wiped his face on his silvery cape, and looked up at her again. Her eyes, her hair, her curious nature, her naivety…she reminded him so much of Daniel. Ignoring her wouldn't be easy. So he chose to use another, much more forceful approach, hoping mostly to push her away by being nosey.

"Why are you in the ghost zone? How old are you? What's your name? You're human, right?" Vlad rapid-fired the questions with the tact of a doorknob.

She smiled warmly. "Well, I'm mostly human. My name is Terra. I'm twenty-five-years-old, and I'm here because I accidentally fell into a ghost portal a few months ago."

"_Mostly _human?" He was a little disappointed that his questions hadn't affronted her, however, he persisted to learn all that he could about this strange girl.

"I'm am the only child of Clockwork. My mother was a human."

Vlad uncurled himself from the fetal position and stared at her with wide, crimson eyes. "You're a half ghost?" He didn't questioned her father's name. He had no earthly idea who Clockwork was.

Terra nodded, "I am a bridge between the two worlds, but I don't have powers like you do. I can simply exist in both the ghost zone and the human world."

"When you fell through the portal, Walker captured you?"

She nodded again. "I've been stuck here ever since, but the warden's not so bad. He takes pretty good care of me, and the other ghosts in here aren't all jerks like I thought they'd be. Fortunately." She sat beside Vlad and asked uncertainly. "You are Vlad Plasmius, right?"

"Yes, I am," he said, the weight of his past actions once again crashing down on his shoulders. He looked away at the stone wall of the prison. "Feel free to tell me how horrible I am. I won't stop you."

"Do you regret what happened?"

His shoulders drooped. "It wasn't supposed to happen that way…"

Terra gave him a sympathetic look. "Tell me." In that moment, Vlad noticed that the girl's skin seem to glow. A faint white light was swarming around her entire body. It was like nothing he had ever seen before, and it lured him into telling her the truth.

"I didn't want to destroy the world. Ruling it would have been interesting, but that wasn't my true intention either. All I wanted was Maddie's adoration and Daniel by my side. To be honest, I wasn't even fully interested in having Maddie anymore. All I wanted was my son."

Terra raised a brow. "He's not yours, Plasmius. Danny is the son of Jack Fenton."

Vlad's frown curled into a sneer, too angry to question how she even knew that. "You don't understand. No one ever has. When Danny was born, I was there. Jack wasn't. He himself said that he didn't want another child. He was off hunting ghosts while I helped Maddie through Daniel's birth. He may have been Daniel's biological father, but my name is on the boy's birth certificate. I wanted him - I _named _him. However, when I asked Maddie to let me take Daniel away from that _idiot_, she refused me. When I offered to marry her if she divorced her husband, she refused that, too."

Terra stopped glowing. Her eyes were wide. "Does Jack Fenton know that you're name is on Danny's birth certificate?"

Vlad sighed. "No one knows but me and Maddie, and she has never let Jack see the certificate - not that it would matter. He probably wouldn't even notice. Anyway, I bitterly left Maddie and Jack alone. He never even knew I was at that hospital. He still thought I hated him because of the accident, but that was more of a blessing than anything. I'm rather attached to my powers." He raised a hand that glowed with ecto-energy.

"As the years passed, I tried to forget about Daniel, but when they brought him to that college reunion and I discovered that he, too, had powers - I knew I couldn't leave him alone. I remember my first years with ghost powers. They were difficult and dangerous. I would do anything to have my son by my side, to save him from suffering like I did. I thought I could win him over…"

Terra crossed her arms. "I'm confused. Why didn't you tell Danny about any of this?"

"He wouldn't have believed me."

"But it would have at least placed the doubt in his mind, and he would have figured out the truth eventually, right?"

"I thought so, too," Vlad said, rising to a standing position. "However, I promised Maddie that I would never mention anything to anyone about this or try to show anyone the birth certificate, and I have always been a man of my word."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You have Danny's birth certificate?"

Vlad pulled a folded up piece of paper from his sleeve. "My prized possession. Maddie sent it to me after Daniel enrolled in school. She has a copy of it, for obvious reasons, however, as a parting gift, she sent this to me."

Terra gently took it from him, unfolding the withered paper, and observing that yes, Vlad Masters was indeed listed as Daniel's father, but another detail also served to shock her.

"Danny's last name is actually Masters?"

Vlad smirked. "Maddie doctored the copy to say 'Fenton', but legally, his last name is my last name."

Terra refolded the certificate, and handed it back to the half ghost, who allowed it to disappear in his sleeve again.

"I'm sorry, Vlad," Terra said guiltily. "As my father's daughter, I have a responsibility to know all that I can. I was born with the ability to make people tell me anything, and I used this power on you just now. I made you break your promise."

"I suspected as much, however, I am not angry. I would like to know how you seem to know so much about Daniel though. Have you met him?"

Terra's frown deepened. "Throughout both worlds, everyone knows both of his names and identities. He's famous. How long have you been wandering the ghost world Vlad?"

He looked away. "Immediately after the incident with the Asteroid, I came to the ghost zone and flew as far into its depths as I could go. I was lost for years in the Far Reaches of the Ghost Wilderness. I do not know what is going on the human world anymore."

"You won't like what I'm going to tell you then, that is, if you still care for the young halfa."

Vlad's expression grew concerned. "Tell me, please."

Terra stared at him with wide, worried eyes.

"You better sit back down.

Ooooooooooo

Danny Phantom © Butch Hartman

Nightmare Ghost © nightmarekitt


End file.
